Room for two

Last evening, Sofia stayed over at grandma's house so we could rearrange her room and put together her new bed in preparation that one day both our kids would share a room together. I will never forget the big smile on her face when she walked in her room tonight. We are still waiting for the mattress to come so took her existing one and placed it on the daybed. She was quite excited to climb on the bed but hmmm...I don't think she's ready for the newfound freedom that comes with sleeping on this bed (I'm not ready to deal with it quite yet)

During this short time frame on her new bed, she was able to:
-turn on and off the floor lamp next to the bed. I had visions of no sleep except her playing with the light
-started peeling the wall stickers from her bed (gotta move them higher!)
-from her bed, she was able to reach the baby creams and other stuff I don't want her to touch


At least now I know what needs to moved away from her reach. Watching her turn on and off the lamp was like watching a child in a candy store...hehe Anyways for now, it will be a nice place for us to cuddle and read and we may even try naptimes there but no bed transition quite yet.

Now I have seen everything...

First it was dogs of all sizes wearing little cute outfits and being carried in a doggie purse or backpack/carrier. Then last weekend, I saw with my very own two eyes, a tiny dog being pushed in a umbrella stroller by the owner. And then tonight at Confederation Park, I couldn't believe my eyes...someone was pushing their wee little dog on the baby swings! It kind of annoyed me because the baby swings are always busy so we don't need pets on them too! Plus then the swings get dirty with the dog paws inside the swing. I overheard the guy say to some kids that his dog loves the swing and slide?!? And I don't think he's the only one out there...when I did a google image search for 'dogs on swings', there were tons of pics of big and small dogs on swings...I think Belle missed out on some playground fun...I think pets need to stay off kid playground equipment...don't you? Maybe someone needs to develop a pet playpark only for dogs to go on swings/slides =P

20 month update

Summer is finally here. I took a few shots of Sofia tonight enjoying summer delights of her first taste of fudgeicle and watermelon. It was hilarious watching her not being able to bite the fudgeicle (too cold) but want desperately to have it in her mouth. Finally we left a bit on the stick and gave it to her. She was in heaven! She just stood out on the street and sucked and licked the stick clean...haha

Then when we got home, we cut open our mini genetically-modified mini melon and she was double-fisting her watermelon into her mouth =)

Oh my funny little girl is approaching two! Since I went back to work after she turned one, it seems like the time has just flown by. I want more time with her and the soon-to-come #2 and full-time work just doesn't cut it...

New Developments:

Motor skills: Sofia is very good at walking on many different types of surfaces and transitioning from grass to pavement etc. She is able to go down stairs on her front by herself and can run a bit but unsteady like she's drunk. No jumping yet.

Fine motor skills: Finally has some interest in scribbling with crayons! She surprised us one day with completing a puzzle (ones with nobs) by herself and likes her little people school bus.

Verbal: Her words come and go. She chooses when she wants to talk and when she doesn't but she understands so much now. I especially love our conversations right before bed, where i'm carrying her with her head on my shoulders (i'm sitting of course) and I ask her about her day and she would shake her head in response. We are having a conversation! I love it!

New words...'mama chaor chaor' (mom sit), mall, park, wewe (tv), 'deet jouh' (fell down), spida (spider), cake and some colors she can say, baby - and there's a lot of whiny sounds when she wants something and we have to guess what she wants.

Fav song: incy wincy spider (hence spider)

Eating very well and it's a nice change from worrying about her not eating enough. It still takes a bit of bribing, if she wants something else to eat, she has to at least take a few more bites or finish off before she can move on and she's ok with that. She is able to spoon feed herself pretty well but still have to help get it on the spoon for her. She gets super impatient when she can't spoon up the food and looks to us for help.

Struggle with brushing her teeth. We can't seem to find a way to do it without holding her down and brushing her with her in tears =( Potty time is also hit or miss as she usually tells us no. 2 but in general she doesn't really tell us. It is the routine of going to potty which then she does her thing (maybe she holds it?) But she doesn't always tell us and she definitely doesn't tell us when she pees. I'm not attempting to potty train at all until baby #2 arrives.

She makes the funniest noises! Lately it's the 'ouu ouu' like an owl, all the animal sounds, kissing sounds and 'ahhh'.

Farting...so starts with her giggling after she farts and now if she hears us, she will giggle too hahah

She is becoming a giggle princess. We have the funniest time together and she would laugh at everything. I took her stuff animals and acted out some funny scenes and she was laughing so hard, drool kept coming out =)

oh i wish we could spend more time together...less than two months before i'm done work...time flies by...

Finally some photos...

Are you here yet summer? We are waiting patiently to switch to summer gear and finally put away my winter boots! Atlas, some photos taken in the past two weeks. So you can how plump and huge I am at 31 weeks...I still have two months to go...

Like the hat I decorated at Hats Off Day?



Sofia with her cousins, Katherine and Elizabeth



Chin family of four



Finally...Happy Father's Day or in our family it would be Happy Baba Day to my wonderful hubby. Thanks for being so understanding lately as I yell for help and grumble at the slightest discomfort. Sofia has learned from me to also yell for 'baba' in a very loud voice which is kind of funny (for now...)

Kindness

I apologize for the lack of photos lately. I just have not gotten around to uploading and sorting my photos =(

How nice is it that I've been offered a seat on a crowded bus? Three times to be exact. At first, it caught me off guard and I said, "it's ok, no worries". I guess at first it didn't occur to me that it was my round belly that was sparking the kind offer. So this morning, two kind individuals offered their seat to me and I took them up on it. However, I couldn't help but feel a bit weird with receiving such treatment when I wasn't an elderly or disabled person. I am a healthy, young adult. But I guess it is a nice gesture and it is much nicer of a ride sitting than standing. Now I just have to remember to pay it forward and offer my precious seat on the bus =)

Yay for Organic Waste!

The City of Burnaby is set to begin its Food Scrap Recycling Program on June 7 and I am so excited! Single or duplex residental homes can now leave any food scraps, egg shells, vegetable peels and even pizza boxes in their yard trimming bin to be picked up weekly by the City.

I was first introduced to this back when I lived in Toronto. They had green bins that was just for organic waste and it was great. The difference was they accepted plastic bags so I just kept a separate bag of organic material and dumped them during garbage days. Burnaby isn't allowing plastic bags for good reason that they don't decompose as easily as the items inside. So this will mean some creativity in ensuring an effective way to accumulate, dump and maintain the level of smell/dirtyness in the storage bins. It makes so much sense because I already kept the organics separate from the regular garbage so I could keep the rotten stuff and horrible smell contained in plastic bags.

It is a perfect complement in our household since we have already cut down on diaper garbage due to the use of cloth diapers. I am very interested to see how much less garbage we will accumulate after we divert the organics away from the garbage bins. At the moment, we accumlate less than half a bag of diaper garbage (keep in mind that Sofia isn't at home during the weekdays but grandma is good with cloth diapers as long as I provide clean ones for her every few days)

Now only if I could eliminate the use of wipes and ordering take out, then we would really be garbage-free!

Food Scrap Recycling Program in Burnaby